pgw

Re: Columbia, I just got a letter in the mail today. I'm about an hour out of NYC, so I'm guessing most of the rest are on their way? Hopefully, anyways.

I too have officially had all of my notifications wrapped up, so just wanted to say best of luck to those still waiting and congratulations to those heading to programs in the fall! If anyone ends up deciding to head to Columbia (or is even thinking about it), please PM me. I'd love to talk :-) Everyone else, I look forward to seeing you all at conferences in the future and becoming colleagues around 2015 or so (what? ahhhhhh!).

Re: Columbia, I got the happy e-mail from a professor almost a full month ago, but I've yet to receive an actual letter. Not even a follow-up e-mail. Boo. On preview: good to hear, paperclips! I would love to say yes to them at this point. But I have nothing concrete to say yes to, haha.

To those who are automatically assuming rejection if they don't get an immediate acceptance, don't give up hope yet! I *still* haven't heard a peep out of Yale despite pretty much everyone else getting his/her decision (and having now contacted them twice), which a mentor of mine tells me might be a good thing. I definitely understand not wanting to be too optimistic (believe me, I know in my case that could lead to a full-on crash-and-burn), but at the same time...it ain't over 'til it's over

Wait, okay now I'm confused. I've gotten neither an acceptance nor a rejection e-mail from Yale. Did they direct you to the application site? My status is still the same: completed. And I'd totally just resigned myself to not being admitted...gah, the drama continues.

Congrats, mims!!! Seriously, no reason to hide: you are the man/woman for being baller enough to get a Yale acceptance. I'm definitely one of the 1000000000000007 modern/contemporary folks, so I understand the high stakes. Nonetheless, awesome for you having made it in. If you've received awesome acceptance packages elsewhere, I don't envy the decision!

Well shoot. I'm guessing that's that with Yale, then. Doesn't Harvard usually send out its acceptances at the same time as Y? If so, hopefully that news will come in the next few days...

Same here mm_donuts. My scores were like yours, but instead of wasting hundreds of dollars on test prep BS, I just poured my all into my SOPs and the writing sample. That and the fact that I'm coming in a fairly less represented field (or perhaps angle within a field) seemed to have helped. But yeah, it *is* nice to be able to stick it to ETS, haha. I hate standardized testing so much. Congrats for all the acceptances, everyone! And pregasaurus, hang in there. We still have a ways to go. Any guesses as to what's coming next week? I'm thinking the fruits from Yale and Harvard might finally start falling. Maybe.

Hey mims, thanks, I got the e-mail from Berkeley a few days ago. No info about how many applied/were accepted, funding, or...anything else all that useful minus info about the admitted students weekend. Also just got the Columbia e-mail yesterday with a phone conversation scheduled for later this afternoon. I don't want to put too much out into cyberspace, but I'm in modern/contemporary (didn't they say in previous years that Columbia notifies by field versus as a whole?). Guess they're finally starting to roll in now! Has anyone heard anything from Chicago yet? Usually someone's had an interview and/or acceptance by this point...

Sure, no problem at all. I got an e-mail from someone on the admissions committee saying he wanted to speak to me about my application over the phone. He asked me a couple of questions about some points in my application (all of which were very specific to my app, so it doesn't seem as if he had any pre-established list of questions he was supposed to ask) and proceeded to talk to my about the program and how it might fit with my interests. He followed up with an e-mail a few days later saying the adcom had met to discuss my application and that he wanted to speak with me again to ask about a few even more specific points so that he could "write a letter on my behalf" (not sure if this is to the committee as a whole or to the Graduate School) and to talk about a burgeoning interdisciplinary research field at the school that might fit with my interests. In any event, I'm still awaiting the second call, but it's starting to look positive (although I don't want to get my hopes totally up). Reading through last year's thread, it appears that the same thing happened to someone at the end of January as well. Given that so few of the people who applied to Berkeley last year were on this forum, it's tough to figure out whether these "interviews" are a normal part of the process or not. In any event, I hope both of our applications can get through, so best of luck! Until then, the sanity-crushing waiting continues...

Hey all, Since I'm basically on TGC all the time at this point, I figured I should register and say hello/pull out what little hair I have with you. Going for my PhD, looking to specialize in contemporary art and new media. Interviewed with Berkeley and waiting to hear from the rest. Best of luck to you all! And not just to get in somewhere, but to survive what deceptively appears to be the shortest month of the year. Happy almost-February!